This is a podcast for the curious. Strap yourself in for genuine dialogues with people who think deeply and are ready to tackle the big questions, such as broadcaster Terry O'Reilly, fantasy author Guy Gavriel Kay, and journalist Sally Armstrong.

Almost nobody is out there claiming that we should put an end to
democracy for good, that we should scrap elections altogether, that
we should just install a dictator or an AI overlord. Donald Trump’s
claim this week that he has the absolute power to pardon himself
may indeed place him above the law, like a king or dictator, but
the shift is within the paradigm. Change is almost always
incremental, and before we know it, our story and our customs and
therefore the very things that underpin our laws will already have
been changed. Apathy, naked hostility, growing polarization, lack
of civic dialogue, unceasing assault on institutions such as the
press and the rule of law, our often celebrated illiteracy, and our
day-to-day behaviour on social media – these may just bring us to
the same outcome.

Today we’re going to talk about climate change, and with that,
something called science literacy. The discussion is with one of
Canada’s most well-respected and hard-working climate scientists,
Professor John Smol of Queen’s University. I
encourage you to look him up. This guy is not just unquestionably
smart, and passionate, and dedicated. He is trained. He has spent
his entire career studying and learning and researching. He has
tried to figure out, quite literally as a biologist, what on earth
is going on. And yet, placed side-by-side with a climate
change-denier’s Facebook post, his word is apparently worth no more
than your next-door neighbour. No more than mine. No more than
yours. This is a problem. Not because Dr. Smol should be elevated
above the rest of us, but that his work should be given more weight
than, say, a blog post I just whipped together.

Now, I imagine most of you listening accept the fact that not
only is our climate changing rapidly, but that the change is
anthropomorphic – that it is caused by humans. I also imagine that
someone who denies this isn’t going to be convinced by what I’m
saying, or by my conversation with Dr. Smol.

So why bother? Because science literacy is not just about
climate change. It’s about everything. Who do you want fixing your
car? A mechanic with experience, or some guy on Reddit who screams
about how car mechanics are out to gouge you? Who do you want
teaching history and chemistry and literature to your kids? Someone
who has gone to school and trained for the job, or someone who
posts YouTube videos about how chemistry is a joke and that
evolution is just a theory and that history is, well, whatever we
decide happened.

Some debates need to be had, of course. The one culminating
right here and now in Ontario with the election – that’s a
necessary debate, where no candidate or party holds the silver
bullet to solve our problems. But the role of scientific inquiry,
accepted truths, of fact, in this debate and others, is of crucial
importance. The parties and leaders can be evaluated as equals. But
not the things they say. If one platform is measured, considered,
vetted, costed, and one is not – shouldn’t they be treated
differently? Our leaders are entitled to their own opinions, but
not to their own facts. And we citizens must know, and must learn
to know, the difference.

We need to be politically literate. Literate voters. Literate
citizens. Literate participants in the ongoing dialogue, because
the conversation will go on whether we like it or not, whether we
speak up or not, whether it remains dialogue or becomes a
shattering monologue. If we’re going to live in a world where
everyone has their own private, narcissistic channel of
selfie-dominated communication to the world, unfiltered by the
media or government or any other iron fist in a velvet glove, fine.
But when we aren’t posting cat videos and square photos of every
meal, when we decide to say something of impact, to enter into the
debate, as is our right, then we better know what on earth we are
talking about, and we better be able to distinguish between fact
and fiction, or this will all end up very badly.

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About the Podcast

Your weekly podcast for a world in flux.
Globalization and climate change. The rise of social media and the decline and fall of Blockbuster Video. AI and VR. Donald Trump and Flat Earthers. The world is changing so fast that we can't get a grip on how we got here, let alone where we're headed.
Join Ben Charland as he peels back the headlines to ask, what are the events, characters, forces and ideas that shape the human story today? Have things always been this nuts, or are they getting crazier by the day? Who were those barbarians that took down the Blockbuster Empire? Just what on Earth is going on?